Quick Review of this Week's New Release List (4-25-7)

You know what you want? New comics. But which new comics are coming out this week? That's what I'm here to tell ya.

And that, in a nutshell, is the point of the NCRL Quick Reviews (that and the "incisive" commentary and occasional heaping of praise).

Now then... get your backs up off the wall. Dance. Come on.

(And am I the only person who thinks Baron Davis' beard looks like a bad Photoshop job?)

AC Comics is bringing us some more Golden Age reprint fun:

• Men of Mystery Fawcett Fighting Favorites Sp #1, which I like the sound of because "Fawcett means fun."

• Men of Mystery Golden Age Grand Slam Vol 1 TPB. It's $25, but since it's a TPB I'm assuming you're getting a lot more story than with the similarly-priced hardbacks.

Other non Marvel/DC/Image/Dark Horse stuff coming out this week:

• Amaze Ink (which is like a division of Slave Labor Graphics or something, I guess), brings us Nightmares and Fairy Tales #19. No clue what this is, but it sounds cool.

• BTW, although I never mention it, Archie Comics Publishing releases lots and lots of Archie comics every week (and, oddly, lots of Sonic the Hedgehog -- hey how awesome would it be to have a team-up of Archie and the real Hedgehog, Ron Jeremy? Invite Betty and Veronica over and, uh, see what happens...).

• Along the same lines (minus Ron Jeremy -- although... ), as always, Avatar Press brings you mountains of Lady Death. Mountains. (In fact, I think it's safe to assume that "mountains" of something figure prominently in whatever appeal she has.)

• Bongo Comics tastefully releases a few Simpsons comics every week, and this week is no exception.

Dark Horse rides into town to bring us:

• A new issue of Usagi Yojimbo, about which I cannot say enough good things (Stan Sakai is teh r0xx0r).

• We're also getting something called Rex Mundi DH Ed #5. Rex Mundi, you will recall, is a tale of murder, sin, and redemption in a world where magic is real and the Catholic Church never lost its grip on power. Okay, I totally swiped that from Wikipedia --I couldn't remember what Rex Mundi was but knew that some of you had recommended it on multiple occasions (it's on my "I really need to check this out at some point" list, and I'll get to it eventually). I, or rather Wikipedia, can also tell you that "Rex Mundi is a quest for the Holy Grail told as a murder mystery. It's set in 1933 in an alternate history Europe where magic is real and the Protestant Reformation never happened." That whole old school magic and Catholicism in a modern setting vibe. We've seen it before, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun here.

DC Comics is going to make you take it and like it, starting with:

• 52 #51. Okay, wait, I can do this, seriously, wait for it... one more issue left after this one! Math is so my bitch now. Anyway, I'm assuming we're still on for the return of the Multiverse and the death of Blue Devil. BTW, between this persistent rumor (the return of the Multiverse -- the Blue Devil thing is just my wishful thinking) and the appearance of pre-v.4 Legion characters (with old school Karate Kid no less!) in the new JLA and JSA series, can my long hoped-for pre-v.4 relaunch be far behind? (I don't care if it's wrong, Marc -- the heart wants what the heart wants.)

• Action Comics #848. This isn't the Busiek one, this is the... I have no idea.

• Amazons Attack #1 (Of 6). This sounds suspiciously like something someone thinks is retro-clever but probably won't be.

• Astro City: The Dark Age Book Two #3. All of my problems with Book One are pretty much still true in Book Two. Is it time to ponder if AC has jumped the shark? You know, we need our own comic book version of "jumping the shark." How about "resurrecting Jean Grey?" - as in, "Astro City has totally resurrected Jean Grey." "Yeah, it's lame now."

• Firestorm The Nuclear Man #35. The end for this series is nigh, but Dwayne McDuffie is writing it, I'm told, so I may check it out (even if Ronnie's still not around).

• Justice Society Of America #5. Brad Meltzer got him a relaunch, and by God, Geoff Johns wanted one too -- and he got it. Apparently this issue will have pre-v.4 Legionnaires in it, as well as a crossover with Meltzer's JLA.

• Ninja Scroll #8. Haven't had a chance to check this out yet, but I'm sure it's ninjariffic.

• Outsiders Annual #1. Annual? Do the Outsiders have a comic?

• Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes #29. I think the Legion is going to attack the Dominator homeworld in this one. If they find Giffen and the Bierbaums hanging out there, I hope there's a reckoning. A very painful reckoning.

• Teen Titans Go #42. I'm told the in-continuity Teen Titans comic has improved to the point where Teen Titans Go is now only 200-times more entertaining. *rim shot!* Meanwhile, Teen Titans Go continues to make me mad at WB Animation or Cartoon Network or somebody for canceling the animated series.

• Wonder Woman #8. So apparently Wonder Woman really is bi-weekly now. (That's bi-weekly, you sick little monkeys.) Anyway, if you like to read Wonder Woman every couple of weeks, this is your golden age.

Elsewhere in New Brunswick:

• Dynamite Entertainment has no Battlestar Galactica for you this week (and no Dynamite Magazine archives, dammit!), but they've got a new license: Painkiller Jane. Which sounds suspiciously like Dark Angel to me. I'm sure it's really completely different, though.

• And a whole buncha other publishers are releasing mountains of manga. Mountains, and mountains, and mountains of manga.

Meanwhile, Marvel is going to make you take it and like it even more than DC:

• A couple more Civil War TPBs. Hold me back.

• Daredevil #96. Is Daredevil even capable of making it through an entire issue without whining about something at this point?

• Exiles #93. In another HC thread we established that the Exiles were in fact actually exiled at one point, but now they're not. In case you were wondering.

• Fantastic Four #545. I am all kinds of excited about this title and this issue in particular -- this is the issue where we'll see if Dwayne can give us some solid cosmic punchemup action to cap off what has been a very promising beginning to his FF run. If he does, my enthusiasm for, and happiness with, this title will be very high and you'll be hearing about it, believe you me.

• Heroes for Hire #9. I just found out that Shang Chi is part of HfH now. Given the proclivity of modern DC and Marvel superhero writers for shipping, surely Shang Chi has tapped one or more of his hottie teammates by now, right?

• New Avengers Illuminati Secret History. Which, we may assume, includes more continuity backloading by Bendis to somehow legitimize or explain the crappy Marvel writing here in the present. Excelsior.

And this weeks' Random Comic Spotlight (a new feature here at the NCRL Quick Review):

Dokebi Bride Vol 5 graphic novel by Netcomics!

Sounds mangatastic -- but is it? Let's go to Wikipedia for more info (twice in one NCRL Quick Review -- you guys are getting my A Game today!): Ah, apparently it's not manga, it's manhwa, which is Korean for comics or cartoons. Get ready for some blockquotage:

The term manhwa is a cognate with Japanese manga and Chinese manhua. There are many common characteristics shared, but each has been taking different paths in theme, visual and narrative approach in accordance with their own cultural and historical contexts. [...] Manhwa can be roughly distinguished from manga because:

• the style of character designs - manhwa aimed at teenage girls (which make up the majority of English-translated series) have a distinctively angular style of abstraction which contrasts with the more "cute" and rounded style of their Japanese, Chinese and western equivalents. This is the most obvious difference at a glance, but does not necessarily apply to manhwa aimed at boys or adults.

• the left->to->right direction of the book (still quite obvious, but not very reliable, as some manga and manhua are 'flipped' around to the western way)

• the Korean name of the author/artist - usually double-barrelled and with syllables that do not exist in Japanese (usually the most reliable method, the only exceptions being when a culturally-neutral pseudonym is used, or when the artist is of Korean ethnicity but but resides in another country such as the USA)

• the untranslated sound effects (not always present) are in hangeul, not kana or hanzi.

Well, now we're learning, and that's exciting! So what about Dokebi Bride in particular? Netcomics, the North American publisher, says:

Korea's most talked-about series in recent years! Born into a shaman family, Sunbi has inherited the power to see and communicate with spirits just like her grandmother, a notable shaman and savior of their little fishing village in the South Sea. Early on, she sees things like an imposter shaman being thrashed by a dragon of the deep, and doesn't understand that none of her schoolmates can see such things. Her powers make her the amorous target of hedonistic demons even as a child. Long shielded from the reality of her power, she finally learns the secret of her mother's death, and why her grandmother was never able to leave their village. Enter Sunbi's world in this mind-boggling psychological chiller!

I have to admit that I zoned out after the second sentence of that block of text, but apparently the girl has powers and one or more shaman or dragons may be involved. That sounds promising.

Okay, so, a bit more reading there at the end than we anticipated, but that'll do it for this week's NCRL Quick Review. As always, keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the comics that don't suck.

Posted by Chris M. at April 25, 2007 11:23 PM